Khamag Mongol

Khamag Mongol was a major Mongolic tribal confederation which existed from the 10th century to 1206, with a Kherlen River camp serving as its capital. Khamag Mongol had a long-term rivalry with the Tatars to the east,  and Ambaghai Khan's defeat by the Tatars in 1156 almost led to the confederacy's dissolution. The Borjigin chief Yesugei arranged a marriage between his 9-year-old son Temujin and the chief's daughter Borte in 1171, but Yesugei was poisoned during the wedding. Temujin attempted to become chieftain, but he was exiled with his family for 6 years, occasionally being enslaved. Temujin, his blood brother Jamukha, and his tribal ally Toghrul Khan began to reunite the Mongols. Jamukha supported the traditional aristocracy, while Temujin gave power to capable people outside of his tribe and became popular. In 1187, Jamukha's 30,000-strong army defeated Temujin's 20,000 troops at Dalan Balzhut, but, in 1197, Temujin led a united Mongol force against the Tatars in alliance with the Great Jin, avenging his father by massacring the Tatar leaders and absorbing the non-aristocrats into his ranks. Temujin promised civilians and soldiers a portion of his war spoils, and he enacted a code of law which made hospitality sacred (meaning that guests and envoys should not be harmed), and he reformed the Mongols into an army along decimal system lines, preventing transfers between units and desertions. Every able-bodied man had to serve in the army, and, in 1201, when Jamukha was declared Khan by a tribal council, Temujin began a five-year war with him. At the Battle of the Thirteen Sides, Temujin defeated his former blood brother, assembling another tribal council. He was named "Genghis Khan" ("leader of all"), uniting the warring tribes as one nomadic nation under one banner and authority. In 1206, Genghis Khan founded the Mongol Empire.